Russell Brand: Meditation Helped Me Overcome Promiscuous Past

Receive the latest celebrity updates in your inbox

NEW YORK - AUGUST 01: Russell Brand on location for "Get Him To The Greek" in Rockefeller Center on August 1, 2009 in New York, New York. (Photo by Bobby Bank/WireImage) *** Local Caption *** Russell Brand

Russell Brand's sudden fame years ago may have pushed him towards sex, alcohol, and drugs, but the comedian proudly said Monday morning that meditation helped him stay sober for the past eight years and find deeper happiness.

"I used to be poor, now I'm not. I didn't used to be famous, now I am," Brand said at a press conference for the David Lynch Foundation, an organization that provides meditation classes to traumatized veterans and needy people. "And I thought that both of these significant transitions would bring a certain amount of satisfaction."

Top Entertainment Photos

"They did a bit, initially as being famous gives you enormous access to-- given there are some young people here-- partners in physical nocturnal activities," Brand said euphemistically because of the children in the audience. But Brand said in the end he was left unhappy.

Katy Perry's new husband touched on a serious topic with a sense a humor as he spoke to a room of war veterans, scientists, and others interested in the filmmaker's organization about how Transcendental Meditation helped him get over his past vices and experience a "deeper state of happiness."

Celebrity Meltdowns

"What it felt like to me was the dissolution of the idea of myself. Like, I felt separateness evaporated, this tremendous sense of oneness," Brand said. "I'm quite a neurotic thinker, quite an adrenalized person. But after meditation, I felt this beautiful serenity and selfless connection. My tendency towards selfishness, I felt that exposed as a superficial and pointless perspective to have."

The "Get Him to the Greek" star, who is in the middle of filming for his new flick, Shakespeare's "The Tempest," added that it has been exactly eight years since he gave up alcohol.

Celebrity Comebacks: Brit Drops New Single

"Also, I was a devoted drug addict for a long while. I was really, really committed to that drug addiction," he said.

Brand met "Twin Peaks" writer and director Lynch through his meditation practice and together, with Clint Eastwood, they are launching the foundation's Operation Warrior Wellness, which treats and prevent post-traumatic stress disorder in 10,000 veterans and their families through meditation.